Freyeria putli (Kollar, [1844])
Jewelled Grass-blue
 (also known as Chilades putli)
POLYOMMATINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Freyeria putli
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Cairns, Queensland)

This Caterpillar is green with a dark dorsal line and pale lines along the sides. It has a black head. The caterpillar feeds on the buds and flowers of various plants in FABACEAE, including :

  • Striped Pea ( Flemingia lineata ),
  • Hairy Indigo ( Indigofera hirsuta ),
  • Moneywort ( Alysicarpus ),
  • Birdsfoot Trefoil ( Lotus ),
  • Peas ( Pisum ),
  • Red Senna ( Rhynchosia ),
  • Zornia ( Zornia ),

    and is usually attended by various species of small black ants including Iridomyrmex species (DOLICHODERINAE).

    The pupa is green and hairy, with a length of about 0.5 cm. It is usually held by the tail and a girdle around the middle on top of a leaf of the foodplant.

    Freyeria putli
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adults are brown with an arc of black spots along the margins of the hind wings on the upper surfaces.

    Freyeria putli
    showing underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Cairns, Queensland)

    Underneath, the wings are fawn, with many dark spots outlined in white, and with an arc of black spots outlined in orange along the margin of each hind wing. The wingspan is up to 2 cms.

    The eggs are white, round and flattened. They are laid singly on flower buds or under leaves of a foodplant.

    The species occurs across south-east Asia including

  • Hong Kong,
  • India,
  • Thailand,
  • Taiwan,

    and in the north of Australia including

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory, and
  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 852-853.

    Vincenz Kollar,
    Aufzahlung und Beschreibung der Freiherrn von Hügel auf seiner Reise durch Kaschmir und das Himaleyagebirge gesammelten Insecten,
    in Karl Alexander Freiherrn von Hügel : Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek,
    Stuttgart, Hallbergerische, Volume 4, Part 2 (1844), p. 422.

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    (updated 14 May 2008, 23 December 2023)